THE hostage crisis in Algeria ended in further bloodshed last night as David Cameron warned the country to brace itself for "bad news".

The BP gas plant in the Sahara desert where terrorists have been holding British workers hostage

A botched rescue attempt to free the captives held by armed Islamic militants left at least 30 hostages dead, including two Britons, with the fate of other UK nationals unknown.

The Prime Minister, who had to abandon a landmark speech on the EU to deal with the crisis, is said to be fuming after warning Algeria not to go in there "all guns blazing."

David Cameron and other Western leaders had urged the country to negotiate with the kidnappers after reports surfaced that the hostages had explosives strapped to their chests.

However when the gunmen started making demands, the military stormed the BP gas plant at the remote In Amenas gas field, in the Sahara Desert.

Abominable Army helicopters bombed vehicles carrying both the captives and kidnappers around the base, leaving dozens of hostages and 11 militants dead. Engineer Stephen McFaul, from Belfast escaped and told how hostages had their mouths taped and he had explosives hung from around their necks.

He also said the Algerian army bombed four jeeps carrying fellow captives.

In a phone call the 36-yearold told his family he only survived because he was on the only one of five jeeps not hit by Algerian bombs.

His brother Brian said: "They were moving five jeep-loads of hostages from one part of the compound. At that stage they were intercepted by the Algerian army.

"The army bombed four out of five of the trucks and four of them were destroyed. The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom," he said. "He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed."

Darren Matthews is currently being held among the hostages in Algeria (Facebook collect)

We face a very bad situation at this BP gas compound in Algeria. A number of British citizens have been taken hostage. Already we know of one who has died

David Cameron

Mr Cameron only found the high-risk operation was underway when he phoned his counterpart at 11.30am.The Algerians ignored offers of help from the SAS and Downing Street openly admitted that Britain was unhappy with the country's actions, saying: "We were very clear we would have preferred to be consulted."The Prime Minister of Norway, whose state energy company Statoil also runs the gas field expressed his anger.Jens Stoltenberg said: "My message was that concern for the lives and health of the hostages had to go first. That was the attitude of David Cameron. Our desire was that they showed restraint. We all feel deep anxiety of not knowing what has happened to our citizens and the other hostages. What has happened is abominable."

One Briton was killed at the start of the siege on Wednesday when terrorists attacked a bus. The group then stormed the plant, seizing the hostages.

"The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels," worker Abdelkader, 53, recalled.

The Algerian government said it was forced to act because the militants were being stubborn and wanted to flee with the hostages.

Last night it was unclear how many Britons were at the gas field, but a grim-faced Mr Cameron warned that Britain should be "prepared for the possibility of further bad news".

Among the hostages are also understood to be Darren Matthews, 29, from Cleveland, and Mark Grant, 30, from Grangemouth, Stirlingshire. Last night Mr Grant's wife Emma was praying for his survival.

She said: "We've a little girl to think about. I just want him home safe."